Sacramento Has 11 Free ADU Plans. Now You Can Test Them on Your Lot.

AI-generated illustration of the City of Sacramento's free two-bedroom Shelf Ready ADU plan, made from the city's published drawings for A-du Insights. It shows no real address or person.

Three governments in Sacramento County will hand you a finished ADU plan set for free, and which one you can use comes down to the line your lot sits behind. Between the City of Sacramento, unincorporated Sacramento County and Citrus Heights, there are 11 free pre-approved ADU plans, from a 367-square-foot studio to a 1,184-square-foot three-bedroom, and A-du estimates they cost between $140,000 and $457,000 to build.

The short version:

• The City of Sacramento offers three free Shelf Ready plans (367, 559 and 747 square feet), Sacramento County offers five for unincorporated lots (460 to 1,184 square feet), and Citrus Heights offers three (496, 599 and 749 square feet).
• The plans are free, but the permit is not: Sacramento County says standard building fees apply, and county ADUs over 750 square feet pay impact fees.
• All 11 plans are now on A-du's build marketplace with an estimated build cost, and you can see a plan on your own lot and request a free test fit in Sacramento County.

If you're a first-time ADU client anywhere from Land Park to Citrus Heights, this is the whole shelf, what each plan would likely cost to build, and the fine print each government attached.

Three catalogs, one county

The City of Sacramento. The city's Shelf Ready plans are a studio, a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom for detached ADUs, at 367, 559 and 747 habitable square feet. The city says they meet the 2022 Residential Building Code and are all-electric. You submit a site plan showing where the ADU goes, and the city is blunt about changes: "Modifications to the Shelf Ready Plans are not allowed, although mirroring of the plans is allowed." All three are 20 feet wide. Only the length changes.

Sacramento County. The county's Shelf Ready ADU plans "can only be used in unincorporated Sacramento County." There are five: the A1 Laurel and A2 Willow (460 square feet, studio or one-bedroom), the B Redwood (870 square feet, two bedrooms), the C Elderberry (1,000 square feet, two bedrooms) and the D Magnolia (1,184 square feet, three bedrooms). They were drawn to the 2022 California residential, electrical, mechanical and plumbing codes. You sign a hold harmless agreement, and beyond extra outlets, lights and switches, the plans "cannot be modified beyond any floor plan options provided." Exterior colors and interior finishes are your call.

Citrus Heights. The city's Permit-Ready ADU Program, paid for with a state Local Early Action Planning grant, offers two one-bedroom models and a two-bedroom, free of charge. You prepare a site plan to confirm your lot can take the model you picked, and you sign the city's hold harmless agreement.

The ledger

The build costs below are A-du's estimates for each plan in the Sacramento area, as listed on its plan page. They are ranges, not a contractor's price, and they leave out land. Footprints are each plan's overall rectangle in feet.

Plan	Size and rooms	Footprint	Estimated build cost
Sacramento city studio	367 sq ft, studio, 1 bath	20 x 20	$140,000 to $218,000
Sacramento city one-bedroom	559 sq ft, 1 bed, 1 bath	20 x 30	$176,000 to $274,000
Sacramento city two-bedroom	747 sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath	20 x 40	$212,000 to $329,000
County A1 Laurel	460 sq ft, studio or 1 bed, 1 bath	19.2 x 24	$158,000 to $245,000
County A2 Willow	460 sq ft, studio or 1 bed, 1 bath	23.7 x 24	$158,000 to $245,000
County B Redwood	870 sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath	30.5 x 34.7	$235,000 to $365,000
County C Elderberry	1,000 sq ft, 2 bed, 2 bath	32.3 x 41.7	$260,000 to $403,000
County D Magnolia	1,184 sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath	32.3 x 46	$294,000 to $457,000
Citrus Heights 496	496 sq ft, 1 bed, 1 bath	16 x 39	$165,000 to $255,000
Citrus Heights 599	599 sq ft, 1 bed, 1 bath	25 x 26.5	$184,000 to $285,000
Citrus Heights 749	749 sq ft, 2 bed, 1 bath	25 x 35	$212,000 to $329,000

Read the footprints before the prices. The city's plans all keep a 20-foot width, so on a narrow lot the question is depth, not width. The Citrus Heights 496 is the slimmest of the 11 at 16 feet wide, and it runs 39 feet deep. The county's Elderberry and Magnolia are more than 32 feet wide. That is a lot of backyard.

The fee line. Free plans save you the drawing and engineering bill, but Sacramento County says plainly that "Standard Building fees apply to all permits using Shelf Ready ADU plans," and that "ADUs greater than 750 square feet are subject to impact fees." Three of the county's five plans cross that line.

Our read: in the unincorporated county, start with the two 460-square-foot plans and only move up to the 870-square-foot Redwood once you have the county's impact fee figure for your parcel in writing, because crossing 750 square feet changes the fee bill as well as the build cost.

Does anyone use them?

Yes, though slowly. In February 2025 the county reported that 15 residents had submitted site plans for Shelf Ready ADUs. One owner told the county the hardest part was the site plan, and that once it was drafted, "I had the permit within about a week or two." That is the pattern with every free catalog we have covered. The drawings are done. The site plan is still yours.

One more thing to ask at the counter. The city and county sets were drawn to the 2022 codes, and California's 2025 codes took effect on January 1, 2026. As we covered when the new code cycle reset pre-approved catalogs across the state, the AB 1332 30-day decision clock is tied to plans approved in the current cycle. A Sacramento plan may need testing against the 2025 code before you can count on that clock, so ask the permit counter whether your set has been re-approved before you print it.

The cross-street check. Sacramento's split looks a lot like Los Angeles, where, as we found in July, the city and the county run two separate free plan catalogs and your address decides which counter you stand at. The difference is scale. Los Angeles has dozens of standard plans to choose from, while Sacramento's three governments offer 11 between them, so the choice here is less about browsing and more about which of a handful of rectangles fits behind your house.

Seven new places to test a plan on your lot

Sacramento is one of seven areas where A-du's lot view and free test fits now reach. Alongside Sacramento County, you can now see a plan on your own lot and request a free test fit in Orange, Riverside, San Joaquin, Alameda and Santa Clara counties, and in San Ramon, the one Contra Costa County city covered so far. Before this week the lot view covered Los Angeles County, San Diego County, San Francisco and New York City. A test fit is a first look at whether a plan's real footprint fits your parcel. Setbacks, utilities and the city's own review still decide what gets built.

To try one, open any of the 11 Sacramento plans on A-du's build marketplace, which lists pre-approved ADU plans from city and county catalogs and design firms, with an estimated build cost for each, and enter your address.

The plans are free and on the shelf today. The next thing that moves is the code, so settle the 2025 question at the counter before the first sheet goes to the printer.